REVEALED: Brit’s top rodent exterminator who bagged the BIGGEST rat in UK

INTRODUCING: Former soldier Terry Walker who is dubbed Britain’s top rodent exterminator

Terry bagged what is thought to be the biggest rat ever found in the UK.

This week we reported how the pest controller snared the whopping 19-inch beast – a rat the size of a cat.

Now the 51-year-old has revealed all the tricks of his trade to the Daily Star as he wages war against the wily critters.

Joining Terry for the day in the hunt for his furry foes, he warned us that the rat epidemic across the nation is escalating.

HUMPHREY NEMAR

BIG BOY: Terry bagged what is thought to be the biggest rat ever found in the UK

“The problem has definitely got a lot worse. I’ve been in this business over 20 years”

Terry Walker

“Rats are getting bigger than ever and their numbers are exploding,” he says.

The rat population of Britain has soared from around 80million in 2013 to a whopping 200m today. And numbers of “super rats”, like the one caught by Terry, are booming too.

He explains: “The problem has definitely got a lot worse. I’ve been in this business over 20 years.

“When I started the average length was 12-14 inches. Now I catch 18-inch rats all the time.”

This month he topped his record by catching the now-notorious 19-inch monster at a feed store in Sandbanks, Dorset, an area famous for its millionaires.

One of the reasons behind the surge in rat numbers is that some have become resistant to the poisons used to exterminate them, even feeding on the pellets meant to kill them.

Terry, the son of a Royal Marine, says: “Part of the problem is untrained people buying shop-based poisons that don’t work, which helps the rats build up the resistance.

Now there are parts of the country where rats are running out of control.”

HUMPHREY NEMAR

ENORMOUS: This week we reported how the pest controller snared the whopping 19-inch beast

Other factors behind the plague include less-frequent bin collections and people leaving out too much bird food in their gardens.

But it all means big business for Terry, based in Poole, Dorset, who heads up a team for TP Pest Control Services.

He hunts down and kills up to 500 rats a week and says: “It’s a way of life. There’s not a single day that I don’t love going to work.”

And, as he enthusiastically sets traps around a farm, Terry claims he doesn’t hate the sneaky creatures, saying: “I love them. They’re very clever – rats can tell when things have been moved.

“I see them as worthy adversaries!”

Millions of us are left shuddering by the old adage that you are never more than a few feet away from a rat even if you can’t see one.

Terry laughs: “That’s probably correct. Most people would be horrified if they knew how many there were.

“Rats carry 40 diseases that are harmful to humans including Weil’s disease which can be fatal. I’m called in to handle them everywhere including doctors surgeries, dentists and hospitals. I recently found a 16-inch one in a chip shop.

HUMPHREY NEMAR

EX-SOLDIER: The 51-year-old has revealed all the tricks of his trade

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